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Renewables to take lion’s share of energy investment in 2021, but still falling short of …

Renewables projects are expected to account for 70% of a record $820-billion in new power generation investment in 2021, as global electricity deployments exceed those of oil and gas for the sixth year in a row. Nevertheless, a new International Energy Agency (IEA) report warns that energy investments, while recovering from the Covid-linked slump of 2020, continue to fall well short of a net-zero emissions pathway.
June 2, 2021 by

Regulator to make decision on Eskom’s latest R8.4bn RCA claim by end-August

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) has published a new regulatory clearing account (RCA) application from Eskom, through which the State-owned utility is seeking to recoup R8.4-billion in cost and revenue variances for the 2019/20 financial year. The application is the first made under the fourth multiyear price determination period (MYPD4), which governs electricity tariffs for the three financial years from 2019/20 to 2021/22.
June 1, 2021 by

Stage 2 load-shedding to resume from 16:00

State-owned power utility Eskom will again be implementing Stage 2 load-shedding from 16:00 on June 1 to 05:00 on June 2. This is owing to further breakdowns of generating units at the Kriel, Arnot, Majuba and Tutuka power stations over the past 24 hours, as well as delays in returning units to service at the Duvha and Tutuka power stations, Eskom says.
June 1, 2021 by

South African adviser urges shift to renewables to spur growth

Replacing South Africa’s aging and inadequate electricity generation capacity with renewable energy plants is an opportunity to spur economic growth and cut emissions, the effective head of a presidential climate change commission said. While many countries face the problem of having to idle fossil fuel-fired power stations to meet climate commitments, many of South Africa’s decades-old, coal-fired plants are due to close anyway, said Valli Moosa, deputy chairperson of the Presidential Climate Change Coordinating Commission.
June 1, 2021 by

Mozambique launches construction of $1bn power plant, transmission line

Mozambique on Monday began construction of gas-to-power plant and transmission line projects worth $1 billion in the southern province of Inhambane as the government aims to boost energy supply. The World Bank is one of the financing partners of the infrastructure projects, alongside the United States, Norway, African Development Bank (AfDB), Islamic Bank and The OPEC Fund for International Development, according statements from the World Bank and the US embassy.
June 1, 2021 by

Seriti assumes management of SAEC assets

Miner Seriti Resources has completed all of the conditions precedent in respect of its acquisition of South32’s South African Coal Holdings (SAEC), with the transaction now closed and Seriti assuming management of these operations from June 1.

SAEC has been renamed Seriti Power, and comprises the Khutala, Klipspruit and Middelburg Mines Services (MMS) North and South mines, which provide coal to Eskom’s Kendal and Duhva power stations.

June 1, 2021 by

Steel backlog won’t be solved by eliminating safeguard duties, AMSA avers

Steel producer ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA) has rebuffed increasingly vociferous calls for the elimination of safeguard duties to ease ongoing supply constraints and price increases in the domestic market. CEO Kobus Verster acknowledges that some backlogs, which began to emerge in late 2019 and became more acute once lockdowns were imposed in response to Covid-19, remain for some categories of steel, most notably flat-steel products.
May 31, 2021 by